Vaccine Injuries

What Is a Vaccine Injury?

A vaccine injury is a health problem that is caused or significantly worsened by a vaccine. It's important to distinguish between:

• Expected side effects: Common, mild reactions (soreness, fever) that resolve quickly
• Adverse events: Any health problem reported after vaccination (may or may not be caused by the vaccine)
• Vaccine injuries: Health problems actually caused by the vaccine (rare, requires medical/legal determination)

VAERS captures adverse events — not confirmed vaccine injuries. The difference matters enormously for interpreting the data.

Known Vaccine Injuries

While rare, some adverse events have been established as genuine vaccine injuries through scientific research:

• Anaphylaxis: Severe allergic reaction — occurs within minutes, treatable with epinephrine. Risk: ~1-5 per million doses.
• Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS): Nerve disorder causing weakness/paralysis. Associated with flu and some other vaccines. Risk: ~1-2 extra cases per million.
• Myocarditis: Heart inflammation after mRNA COVID vaccines, especially in young males. Most cases mild and self-resolving.
• Intussusception: Bowel obstruction in infants after rotavirus vaccine. Led to RotaShield withdrawal; current vaccines have much lower risk.
• Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia (TTS): Rare blood clotting after J&J COVID vaccine. Led to limited use.
• Shoulder Injury (SIRVA): Shoulder damage from improper injection technique — not the vaccine itself, but the administration.

The Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP)

The U.S. has a no-fault compensation system for vaccine injuries:

• VICP (National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program): Covers childhood and adult vaccines on the recommended schedule. Funded by a $0.75 excise tax per vaccine dose.
• CICP (Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program): Covers COVID-19 vaccines and other emergency-use products.

Since 1988, the VICP has paid over $5 billion in compensation for approximately 10,000 claims — out of billions of vaccine doses administered. Most compensated claims are settled cases, not admissions that a vaccine caused the injury.

Putting the Numbers in Context

VAERS reports 143,653 hospitalizations and 37,185 disability reports across all vaccines over 35 years. These raw numbers seem large, but context matters:

• Billions of doses: The U.S. administers hundreds of millions of vaccine doses per year
• Coincidental events: Many hospitalizations after vaccination are for unrelated conditions
• Reporting ≠ causation: VAERS doesn't verify that the vaccine caused the reported event
• Background rates: People get sick and go to hospitals regardless of vaccination

How to Report a Suspected Vaccine Injury

If you believe you or someone you know has experienced a vaccine injury:

1. Seek medical care immediately for any serious reaction
2. File a VAERS report at vaers.hhs.gov
3. Consider filing a VICP claim at hrsa.gov/vaccine-compensation
4. Consult your healthcare provider about future vaccination decisions